The Lake Superior team includes one community foundation and their community partners in Duluth, Minnesota. The team developed its action agenda in response to increased storm events in the region and aims to raise awareness of green- and gray-water infrastructure tools that can mitigate the negative impacts of storm events on the health and well-being of communities along the Lake Superior shoreline.
Lake Superior
Lake Superior
”As I began a new role in Duluth working on climate action and resilience, the One Water Partnership has been a valuable network. These organizations have a unique understanding of the disparities that exist in our community, along with the needs of vulnerable populations. Having a foundation of people from organizations already on the front lines of community resilience gave me an amazing start to plan future projects, gain feedback on past efforts, and seek out external funding sources. Their knowledge of community needs and successful engagement strategies are truly valuable to the City’s work.
Mindy GranleySustainability Officer, City of Duluth
The Partners
Accomplishments
In 2020, the Lake Superior team secured an AmeriCorps VISTA member to conduct a landscape analysis within marginalized socioeconomic neighborhoods in Duluth, Minnesota, to identify the needs of these communities in developing rain-ready housing, including identifying financial and resource needs, community partners, and knowledge gaps.
The Lake Superior team leveraged its capacity and successes for four additional proposal applications beyond the One Water Partnership. These proposals focus on increasing community resilience to changing climatic conditions within marginalized communities.
The Lake Superior team was awarded two small grants to further their work: a $9,257 Partners for Places minigrant titled “Lincoln Park Block-by-block: Urban Sustainability Led from Equity” and a $6,500 Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) Technical Assistance Grant from the River Network titled “LNPK 156”. Both projects focus on the Lincoln Park neighborhood in Duluth, Minnesota, and will help to identify the greatest water-related needs of residents while building opportunities for local community leaders to work alongside city government in tackling water challenges. These projects will also serve as small pilots of an engagement process proposed for a larger future project.
Since its founding, the work of the Lake Superior team has been focused on increased information sharing, capacity building, and collaboration of the organizations involved in the team—Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation, Minnesota Sea Grant, City of Duluth, Ecolibrium3, and Udac. They accomplish this by holding monthly meetings where these diverse organizations are able to learn from one another, share resources, and build a supportive network focused on best practices for engaging community members around resilience.